Average Detentions per Month

Percent of Detentions with Search or Frisk

Ratio of Black to White Citizens Detained

About the Data

A temporary detention involves a police officer holding and questioning an individual for a short amount of time. The police only need reasonable suspicion for a detention. Detentions may be accompanied by some form of search or frisk, though not all detentions will involve a search. Detentions can be initiated by an officer or dispatched in response to a call.

This analysis is based on records of temporary detentions made by the City of Charlottesville Police. The data was received in response to Freedom of Information Act requests (by – attribution for requesting?) made over multiple time periods. We have aggregated the data to two primary time periods:

• Period 1: mid-July 2012 to mid0June 2014
• Period 2: January 2016 to mid-October 2016 combined with January 2017-December 2017

Navigate to additional pages for further analysis:

• Composition compares the percent of Black and White detentions to the overall population in the city.
• Mapping visualizes where Black and White citizens are detained by the police.
• Offenses shows the nature of the offense reported as the reason for the detention across Black and White residents.

Detentions, with and without Search/Frisk, by Race

Detentions per 1000 population for Black residents (2-year period)

Detentions per 1000 population for White residents (2-year period)

Recorded Offense

We recoded the offense generating the detention as recorded in the data into the following categories: (1) Narcotics Investigations, (2) Suspicious Circumstances, (3) Disorderly conduct (including drunkeness), (4) Crimes on persons (e.g., assult, robbery, weapons), (5) Crimes on property (e.g., burglary, vandalism, trespassing), (6) Traffic-related events (e.g., traffic stops, violations, accidents), and (7) everything else (e.g., assistance, unidentified).